Archive for the ‘Women’s Health’ Category

Hip pain can be frustrating. You want to walk but it hurts just to sit or stand. Severe hip pain can be very debilitating. Patients with chronic hip pain often end up getting hip surgery. The spine sits on the pelvis and the pelvis sits on the legs. The concave area where the pelvis meets the legs is call the acetabulum. The femur or long bone of the upper leg sits in the acetabulum. Pain in the hip is often due to a femur head subluxation.

Lower back and hip pain: If the head of the femur is out of alignment, the sacroiliac will go out of alignment and then the fourth lumbar disc on the right will start to bulge. The second cervical on the right will also go out of alignment. The femur head often goes out of alignment in two different directions: anterior superior and anterior inferior.

Hip pain causes: There are three main causes for the femur are going out of alignment. The first is crossing the left leg over the right and the second is due to emotional armoring at the third lumbar and the third is a second chakra imbalance. Because a misalignment of the femur is one of the main causes of the spine being unstable it is essential for every chiropractor to check it on every visit. Emotional armoring at the third lumbar and second chakra imbalances can be cleared out using CARE or Chakra Armor Release of Emotions technique. This will stabilize the femur as well as the sacroiliac joint.

Hip pain relief comes in the form of a chiropractic adjustment for the femur head or releasing the emotional armoring at the third lumbar and second chakra imbalances using CARE. If treated in time this often can prevent the need for hip surgery.

If you are suffering from hip pain please call me for a free consultation at 510-558-0164 or e-mail me at drrettner@sbcglobal.net I would love a chance to relieve your symptoms and help you to achieve a happier, healthier life style. Thank you.

Headache types: Headaches can appear in different areas of the head. I have found frontal (forehead) headaches to have four causes.

Neck pain headaches-The first and most common cause is a second cervical subluxation. The second cervical on the left will cause a frontal headache on the left and a second cervical subluxation on the right will cause a frontal headache on the right. These also cause sinus headaches and sinus congestion. The second cervical on the left is usually stuck in extension and the second cervical on the right is either lateral or stuck in rotation and compressed superior to inferior. A second cervical adjustment will usually clear up the sinuses in seconds.

Frontal headaches can also be due to a cranial problem in the frontal bone.

The third cause of frontal headaches is a bad night’s sleep. This causes an imbalance of the pineal gland which can be corrected using TBM or Total Body Modification.

The fourth cause is emotional. These are commonly known as stress headaches or tension headaches. This headache can appear on the frontal eminences. They are called the bad mood points which can be corrected using SET, Spinal Encephalo Technique. Once they are released, the bad mood and headache goes away. The frontal lobe of the brain is a common place for emotional armoring as well. Emotional armoring can occur in any lobe of the brain and can be cleared out using CARE or Chakra Armor Release of Emotions.

Occipital headaches (located in the back of the head) can be due to a subluxation of the occiput, a cranial misalignment of the occiput or due to toxicity or indigestion. An ileocecal valve spasm can cause a headache on the right occiput. A Valve of Houston spasm will cause a headache on the left occiput. These points on the occiput and can be used for correction of the ileocecal valve and the Valve of Houston. They are part of the Spinal Encephalo Technique.

Headaches located in the sphenoid area of the temples are usually referred from the cervicals and can be corrected by adjusting the cervicals indirectly or directly by using Vector Point Cranial technique.

Headaches located in the temporal area can be due to a TMJ subluxation or emotional armoring in the squamous portion of the temporal bone or on the mastoid. The most gentle way to clear TMJ subluxations is to treat it with SET, Spinal Encephalo Technique. Just have the patient touch the reflex point and adjust T2, T4 and T6 with a double activator in three phases of respiration. The armor in the temporal lobe can be cleared out using the CARE technique.

Parietal headaches (on the top of the head) are often due to a bad night’s sleep or stress. They can be corrected by separating the coronal and sagittal sutures or by doing a parietal lift.

Migraine headaches are often due to stress or diet. Migraine headaches may be caused by an allergy to wheat, dairy, eggs, chocolate, sugar, yeast, citrus, red wine, red meat, tea, coffee or corn.

If you are suffering from headaches and would like some relief without drugs please call me for a free consultation at 510-558-0164 or e-mail me at drrettner@sbcglobal.net I would love a chance to relieve your symptoms and help you to achieve a happier, healthier life style. Thank you.

Chronic health problems have multiple causes. As a chiropractor, first I look to the spine being out of alignment. Then I look for food allergies, pathogens in the gut, hormone imbalances and energy imbalances.

1. Spinal Misalignments (subluxations)-When the spine is out of alignment, it causes a lack of nerve and blood flow to the organs. This causes the organs to get tired and get symptoms, which then leads to disease.

2. Pathogens in the gut: I order a Comprehensive Stool Specimen Test which does a DNA scan of your bowel movement. This checks for bacteria, parasites, candida albicans overgrowth and which probiotics are low. The lab tests to see what natural and medical treatment works best against whatever they find. I then give you whatever suplements you need to correct the problem or refer you to a medical doctor for the more serious cases.

3. Food allergies: Most people eat the same 10-15 foods every day. Often 2 or 3 of these are food allergens. To help determine which foods you’re allergic to I’ll give you a list of the most common food allergies and ask you to circle the ones on the list you eat at least once a week. I then muscle test to see which of those foods shows up. You then avoid those foods for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks a provocative test is done where you eat only one of the offending foods at a time to see if you get a reaction. We then do a treatment to fix the underlying emotional cause of the food allergies. Lastly you eat the offending food again and should have no reaction.

4. Hormone Imbalances: To check for hormone imbalances first we have you fill out the Metabolic Assessment Form to determine which organs are out balance. This is followed up initially by the Adrenal Stress Index test. This is a saliva test which tell us which stage of exhaustion your adrenal glands are in. This helps us determine which supplements you need to help strengthen your adrenal glands. This is often followed up by male or female hormone saliva tests.

5. Energy Imbalances: The energy in the body flows in four different major pathways: chakras, armor, acupuncture and polarity energy flows. First I muscle test to see which energy pathways are out of balance. Then I determine which imbalance is causing the chronic health problem. Next, with Applied Kinesiology or muscle testing, I test to see which homeopathic flower essences (Bach Flower Remedies) are needed to help release the energy imbalance. This process moves the energy up and out the body. Lastly I work on the spiritual level, testing for which passage from the Psalms or the Tao Te Ching needs to be read in order to get a spiritual release and complete the healing.

If you have been suffering from chronic health problems, please call me for a free consultation at 510-558-0164 or e-mail me at drrettner@sbcglobal.net I would love a chance to relieve your symptoms and help you to achieve a happier, healthier life style. Thank you.

Have you put on a little weight this winter and feel a little sluggish? Maybe it’s time to do a cleanse. The easiest, most effective cleanse I know of is the liver enhancement diet. The liver produces all 6 fat burning hormones and is therefore a key factor in weight loss. If your metabolism is sluggish, your liver may be damaged. In some cases this will prevent you from losing weight. Once the liver is healthy, the weight can come off much more easily.

The chemicals in our foods, growth hormones in our meats and milk, alcohol, caffeine, refined sugar, refined carbohydrates, artificial fat, past infections and toxins in our water supply may have altered your liver. Normally, the liver is supposed to break down and eliminate these chemicals but it can become overwhelmed to the point where your liver becomes dysfunctional.

If we give your liver a rest from these chemical insults and give it the nutritional support and detoxification it needs to return to normal function. You need to reverse the damage that has been done and the liver enhancement program does this in a short period of time.

The goal is to bring the liver back to its normal production rate to eliminate a great deal of difficulty in burning fat. This is done by eating only those foods that don’t stress the liver while allowing it to purge itself of toxins.

The program consists of fresh fruit, fruit and vegetable juice, salad, avocadoes, hummus, nuts, nut butter and if you like, raw fish.

A special cleansing drink is taken before each meal. It consists of 100% unsweetened cranberry, apple and lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and water.

Besides cleansing the colon, the kidneys and the liver, you will lose weight, look great, have more energy and even your hair and skin will look better.

Please call Dr. Rettner at 510-558-0164 if you would like more information about the liver enhancement program or if you need the supplements to do the cleanse. You can also e-mail me @ drrettner@sbcglobal.net

MARK: Dr. Rettner, you mentioned the phrase “stubborn weight loss”. I think that most people would call their own weight loss issues “stubborn.” After all, if the weight wasn’t stubborn, they wouldn’t have a problem. They’d just lose the weight.

So I think just about everybody has a stubborn weight loss problem.

But are you talking about something specific when you use the term “stubborn weight loss”???

DR RETTNER: Actually, yes I do, Mark.

When you’re younger, it’s very easy to lose weight by cutting calories and exercising more. Young bodies will do that. But as you get older, your metabolism slows down and it gets harder and harder to lose weight.

But the question is WHY does age make it harder to lose weight. And also, how could your job, like nursing, make it nearly impossible to lose weight?

Well it turns out that as you get older, your body changes. And it changes in three specific ways that make you gain weight and make it harder to lose.

Let’s start by talking about hormones. Two, in particular, starting with what your thyroid does.

The little energy factories in your cells are called Mitochondria, and your thyroid produces a hormone called Thyroxin which makes the mitochondria work effectively.

A sluggish thyroid can cause cravings of carbohydrates and sweets because it’s preventing your mitochondria from doing its job, and as a result the food you eat is not converted into its full energy for your body. So the body craves more food in a desperate attempt to get more energy.

And simply put, that’s why you over-eat. Make sense?

MARK: Yes.

DR RETTNER: There’s another group of hormones we need to talk about, too, and they’re made by your Adrenal gland.

If you have an adrenal problem, you may be having trouble getting deep delta wave sleep. And it turns out that your fat burning hormones are activated only during deep sleep. People with exhausted adrenal glands don’t lose weight even when they eat right and exercise. The adrenals produce cortisol which puts fat in the abdomen above and below the navel.

If you’ve got excess fat in your abdomen — and it’s a safe bet that you do — it may be because of an adrenal problem.

Here’s another bet I’ll make: You probably don’t know if you’ve got an adrenal or thyroid problem. But it’s something that you can out, if you know what you’re looking for.

DR RETTNER: Now, let’s move on to your liver.

Most people don’t like to eat liver, much less talk about liver — even their own liver. But you really should hear what I’m about to say.

In many cases it’s all that bad stuff in your liver which is actually preventing you from losing weight.

MARK: Why is that?

DR RETTNER: Well the liver produces all 6 fat burning hormones. So, if your liver can’t do its job producing those hormones, you can’t lose weight — no matter how much you reduce your calorie intake.

Mark, does that all make sense so far? If you eat foods you’re allergic to, your body doesn’t know what to do with it, so it stores it as fat. It also puts a toxic overload on the liver as well.

MARK: Crystal clear, actually. This is really fascinating. I thought weight loss was all about calories, but it seems like the conventional wisdom about how to lose weight is all wrong.

DR RETTNER: Yes, most people aren’t aware about the simple mechanics of the body.

MARK: What’s the third way the body changes?

DR RETTNER: Here’s the third one.

Your body is becoming less tolerant of certain foods — actually you could be allergic to what you eat. And here’s what’s fascinating.

Water retention, what Doctors call “edema”, is particularly common among allergic individuals and is an important contributing factor to obesity.

The removal of an offending food will often result in a rapid water loss of five to ten pounds within a week’s time, all without the use of a diuretic.

Following the initial water loss, you can lose fat more easily, even without dieting. All you’ve got to do is figure out what you’re allergic to, and stop eating it.

MARK: Wouldn’t someone know if they were allergic to a food? I mean, wouldn’t they sneeze, or break out in hives?

DR RETTNER: Actually, no. Not all allergies result in hives. Not all allergies cause a runny nose or sneezing either. The only reaction you might have is putting on weight and being more tired than usual. You might also feel angry, depressed, irritable or bloated. You might get a bad headache or have heartburn. There are actually more than 17 different symptoms that an allergic reaction can cause…hives and nasal problems are just 2 of many possible symptoms.

MARK: Okay, well then I guess it’s possible for just about anyone to be allergic to one food or another — or maybe several — and never know that’s why they’re gaining weight, or can’t lose weight.

DR RETTNER: Yes, Exactly. And that’s why most weight loss programs don’t work long term. They simply try to cut calories, but don’t address the real problems that are causing people to gain weight and keep it on, and those reasons are usually Hormones, Liver problems, and Food Allergies.

If there’s something wrong in your body, and before you can ever hope to lose an ounce, you’ll need to figure out which problem or problems you have.

MARK: So how can someone find out which problems they have.

DR RETTNER: Well, I’ll tell you not only how you can figure out which problems you have, but also how to solve them.

MARK: Great.

DR RETTNER: I’ve been working with weight loss patients for the past 20 years, and what I’ve discovered is if you eliminate food allergies and cleanse the liver first, the weight comes off much faster.

And if you help someone discover their genetically ideal diet — a diet for optimal health — the weight will stay off.

My program, which I call the Stubborn Weight Loss System, gets refined every year to make it better than the year before, and improve its rate of success.

MARK: Can you give a couple of examples?

DR RETTNER: Sure. Let me tell you a couple of stories about two people in particular:

(Raphael, are these real people? The names Tom and Mary seem a bit generic? Anything we do to make these legitimately more believable? Are there any details we can add? Last names? mom/dad? Occupation? where they lived? photos?)

When I met Mary, she was 71 years old and had given up trying to lose weight. She thought she was stuck at 200 lbs. forever. Mary went through my program, and as a result of avoiding the foods she was allergic to and eating healthier foods, she lost 35 lbs. and has continued losing 2-3 lbs. per month. She looks great, feels great, looks younger and has more energy.

I’d also like to tell you about Tom Brackett. Tom went through my 8 week program and reported the following results. He told me: In 8 short weeks my total cholesterol has dropped 19% from 201 to 163, my triglycerides dropped 26% from 251 to 185 and he lost a lot of weight too.

MARK: Got another one?

DR RETTNER: Sure. There’s Judie Fouchaux. She wrote me a letter at the end of her program and said “Although I came to you with a weight problem, you managed to help me with so much more. I learned about my food allergies and a whole array of foods which I like and are beneficial to me. I’ve lost over thirty pounds and I’m still easily losing two pounds per week. I feel better than I have in years. Thank you for all you do. Signed Judie Fouchaux

If you’d like to find the underlying cause of your weight problem and learn how to not only lose weight but keep it off please e-mail me @